Bug Blog
Top-Bar Beekeeping Advocate Les Crowder to Speak at WAS Conference at UC Davis
Are top-bar beekeeping hives for you? What are their advantages and disadvantages as compared to the traditional Langstroth hives? You'll learn all about top-bar hives when Les Crowder of Austin,...
Les Crowder examines a frame from his top-bar hive. A resident of Austin, Texas, he will speak Sept. 7 at the Western Apicultural Society conference at UC Davis.
A honey bee heads over the top of a tropical milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Fly, Oh, My!
A fly, oh, my! On the approval scale, they don't rank nearly as high as honey bees, but some are often mistaken for them. Take the Eristalis stipator, which belongs to the family Syrphidae, the...
A female Eristalis stipator (as identified by Martin Hauser of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, foraging on tropical milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The female Eristalis stipator peers at the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Eristalis stipator in flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
See you! Off flies Eristalis stipator, heading for another blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gene Brandi, Speaker at WAS Conference: Managing Honey Bees in California
Varroa mites--considered the No. 1 enemy of beekeepers--will be among the topics discussed when Gene Brandi of Los Banos, Calif., president of the American Beekeeping Federation, speaks at the 40th...
A varroa mite (reddish-brownish spot at left beneath the wings) is attached to this forager nectaring on lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee pauses from foraging on an almond blossom to pack pollen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Getting Steak and Dessert at the Same Time
Monarch butterflies aren't the only insects that hang around milkweed, their host plant. You're likely to see a variety of predators, such as the European paper wasp, Polistes dominula. This paper...
A European paper wasp catching prey on a showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosa. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A European wasp feeding on prey on a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Eye to eye, and nose to antennae with a European paper wasp. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of European paper wasp. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
'Bee Man' Norm Gary Featured at WAS Conference at UC Davis
Honey bees intrigue, delight and fascinate Norman Gary. In fact, they have for 70 years. Seven decades. Yes, that's how long he's kept bees. Norm Gary's 70-year career includes both hobby and...
'Bee Man' Norm Gary is surrounded by bees as he is about to perform a bee wrangling stunt. He is now retired from bee wrangling. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)